2004
News and Updates
March 23, 2004
This
recent article about the filming of Harry Potter briefly mentions Alan:
Posted by CHEESER
Source: Godric's
Hollow
Jim Tavaré
,
the actor who landed a bit part in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban as Tom the innkeeper, spoke with Godric's Hollow
about his experience on the film:
I
did the usual search on Google and one site (I forget which) had a
description of every single character in all the books to date. Tom was
described as a "wizened toothless walnut." I thought, "That's cool. At
least he's not a muggle."
My scenes were with Daniel Radcliffe
and Robert Hardy (Cornelius Fudge). I took my son Louis to visit the
set and met Alan Rickman (Severus Snape) in the canteen carrying a tray
with his lunch. He said hello and signed an autograph for him. Daniel,
Rupert and Emma all signed Louis' Harry Potter lunch box he takes to
school. I also met Paul Whitehouse (Sir Cadogan) who is a very
successful comedian in the UK. I was also briefly in a scene with Julie
Walters who seemed very nice.
Tavaré is also running in a marathon to support dyslexia,
and you can sponsor him for a small donation. The event is April 14,
2004.
March 22, 2004
Alan
is reported to be starring in an upcoming film directed by Mark Brozel
(his debut), along with Jason Isaacs, entitled "Manchester United
Ruined My Life." It's the adaptation of a Colin Shindler novel
about a Jewish boy in the 50s and 60s in Machester, growing up under
the shadow of the mighty Manchester United football team. Filming
is expected to start this spring or summer.
Also, Alan was
in Argentina on March 17th for the film festival Mar del Plata.
He is presently in Patagonia and will be going to Buenos Aries.
Thanks to Laura for the photos and info! Here's the new pics from
that event:
There was also an interview with Alan from Argentina
published on Fausta's website, The Rickmanista Review
Thanks to Fausta for translating to English and allowing me to publish
it here:
“I
spend my life acting”: The
actor from Die Hard and Sense and Sensibility came to give a Master
Class and received an award.
by Diego Lerer
In tourist mode, Alan Rickman
isn’t too enthusiastic for facing the
press: he was given an award and gave a Master Class, but they didn’t
show any of his films. If they had, what would he choose? Die Hard, his
first film, which made him famous for his role as a villain? The
outstanding Sense and Sensibility? Or his mysterious professor Snipe
(sic) in the Harry Potter saga? In his calm and slightly
sinister tone that we’ve seen so often in his
characters, the 58-year old London-born actor, says that he
“didn’t
know what to expect from Argentina, or from Mar del Plata. After I
leave here I’ll get to know well Buenos Aires, and I think the North
and South of the country”.
One of Rickman’s nice
idiosyncrasies is that he has a very early
breakfast in the Sala of the Auditórium, ready to watch movies
from
9AM. “I love film festivals”, he says, “I've been to all the
major ones
and always have a great time. It’s the filmgoer’s ideal place. And I
love watching movies. I love to watch movies from countries that I
normally wouldn’t see in London.” The proof is that he had to finish
the interview early since he was
late for a screening of The Blue Light, a film by Japanese theater and
film director Yukio Ninagawa, who directed him on stage.
Rickman, who still lives in his
native London (“I’m in many places,
depending on filming, but that’s where I keep my underwear”), isn’t
here just as an actor, but also as director, of only one film, The
Winter Guest, with Emma Thompson.
Would you want to direct again?
Making movies is very difficult.
On one hand, you have the issue of
finance. On the other hand, if you’re also an actor, you have to leave
aside everything for two years of your life. When directing, you’re
responsible for beginning to end. I’m not one that, like other
directors, has a lot of projects. Right now I have two things in mind.
We’ll see . . .
Your last films, Love Actually
and Harry Potter, are great
international hits, but you could do them in London. Do you like
working there?
Yes, I do, but I’ve also spent a
long time in New York with a stage play (Private Lives) that did very
well.
Nowadays a lot of English films,
like Love Actually, have too much of a Hollywood style. Does that
bother you?
In Love Actually everybody made
a small film. I never had the total
experience until I watch the completed movie. The part I played with
Emma was so English that we never noticed anything. I feel that it has
to do with Richard Curtis’s personal experience, wrapped in something
universal.
That was Curtis’s first
film. Was it easy to film?
Very smooth. Emma and I have
worked together many times. I directed
her, so I felt very comfortable. We spent a lot of time exploring
the
dangerous comfort that can exist between a man and his wife, into which
a third person can intrude.
Do you prefer big movies or small
movies?
I like both. In big films
you can find nooks in which you can place
eccentricities, which is what people remember. Something human .
. .
Does it bother you, that, more
than 15 years later, people still remember you from Die Hard, your
first film?
Some prefer Sense and
Sensibility. Now I’ve come across a lot of Galaxy
Quest fans (released on video in Argentina). But no, it doesn’t
bother
me. It’s a movie they play all the time on TV. I had never
made a film
before. It was a strong beginning.
They cast you, being an unknown?
They saw me on stage and they
liked me. Besides, I came cheap.
For youngsters, Rickman is
Harry Potter’s Professor Snipe (sic), the
teacher that’s never as evil as he appears. But he doesn’t want
to talk
about it.
What can you tell us about the
new Harry Potters?
I don’t talk about Harry Potter.
Does your contract forbid it?
No, because I don’t want to play
with something that has to do with children’s innocence.
But you’re in the third one?
Yes.
Have they started on the fourth
one?
They have. I haven’t.
Will you be in it?
Eventually . . .
March
17, 2004
To check out a
funny little video of Snape dancing, click here :
http://www.eviltrailmix.com/snapesexy.swf
Also, to read an interesting account of a Harry Potter fan's
personal meeting with Alan Rickman, click here:
www.diagonally.org/phpnuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=60
March
8, 2004
Alan will star
in an upcoming HBO movie on May 30 at 8:00 p.m. (Sunday) entitled,
"Something the Lord Made." Here is a photo of Alan, playing the surgeon:
Jan.
9, 2004
Happy New Year
to everyone... On a personal note: I apologize for not
updating recently, but I have a good excuse-- I got married in December
to a wonderful man named Keith! We are planning a belated
honeymoon later this year to England. Now down to
business-- here's the latest news about Alan from Baltimore,
Maryland (taken from sunspot.com, thanks to Vicki!)
Alan Rickman sees the sights
Hot Stuff
By Sloane Brown
Special To The Sun
Originally published January 8, 2004
Was
that Professor Snape dining at Kali's
Court recently? Sans the black wig and cape he dons in the Harry Potter
films, Alan Rickman looked positively Brit-cool in black leather.
Ladies, think an updated version of Rickman's Colonel Brandon in 1995's
Sense and Sensibility. Or his evil Hans Gruber (keep the sexy, lose the
sinister) from 1988's Die Hard.
Rickman is in town filming an
HBO flick. But he's going neither sexy nor sinister this time around.
In Something the Lord Made, Rickman plays the late Johns Hopkins
cardiologist Alfred Blalock, who with his research assistant Vivien
Thomas (portrayed by Mos Def) figured out a way to save oxygen-deprived
newborns.
Meanwhile, Rickman is charmed by Charm City - particularly the American
Visionary Art Museum. He told Kali's co-owner Karen Patten that
AVAM is one of the best museums he's ever seen.
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